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Learn How to Protect Your Firm from a Security Breach

Posted on December 15, 2020 by Ben Stevens Posted in Office Management, Online Resources, Security, Technology Leave a comment

Did you know that 29% of law firms experienced a security breach in 2020? 🎯 🔐

And that is up from 26% in 2019. 🆙

*source: ABA 2020 Legal Technology Survey Report

I have always thought it likely that this stat is low – in many firms, especially large firms, attorneys may never learn of a breach unless it becomes public.

PLUS…

This is borne out by 21% of respondents reporting that they do not know whether their firm has ever experienced a security breach. (hence the numbers are likely higher)

So what does that mean for you? 🧐

Well… if you’re still reading this, it means that you gotta get GOOD at securing your practice… and fast.

If you don’t know how to secure your data and reduce your risk of a data breach…nothing else matters.

Because if you experience a data breach and have to notify the Office of Disciplinary Counsel, State Bar, Attorney General, etc. of the incident AND every single person in your contact list.

People like your prospective, current and past clients, colleagues, judges, opposing counsel … etc.

Nothing else matters.

The reputational damage of a data breach is monumental.

Your current and future clients are not going to trust you with their sensitive information and therefore you won’t be able to help them.

And once you’ve been the victim of a data breach … then what?

It is too late.

That’s exactly what my friend Tom Lambotte is going to be diving into during his FREE Security Class coming up soon.

It’s called “The 7 Cybersecurity Threats That Could Endanger Your Law Firm In 2021 … And How To Prevent Them” (use the link below to register).

He’s giving away the best security secrets he’s learned from being in the trenches with the top small law firms and helping hundreds of lawyers identify and implement the best security solutions to reduce their risk of suffering a data breach.

There’s a simpler way to learn today’s most pressing security risks… and he’s going to reveal the 7 key threats you need to protect your law practice!

You can click HERE to register.

*This class is free but has limited seats.

Free Webinar – The 7 Cybersecurity Threats That Could Endanger Your Law Firm In 2021 …And How To Prevent Them

Posted on December 13, 2020 by Ben Stevens Posted in Office Management, Online Resources, Security, Technology Leave a comment

Do you ever struggle with how much and what kind of security measures do you need for your law practice? Especially as a solo or a small law firm? 🤔

If you struggle with this, you’re not alone.

Keeping up to date and having the adequate security measures in place to protect your practice isn’t easy—even for the seasoned pros.

It can feel overwhelming and never-ending with the amount of security decisions that need to be properly addressed, including:

VPN
Phishing
Passwords
Cyber insurance
Malware & adware
Dark web monitoring
2 Factor Authentication
Security and software updates
Human error and employee carelessness
and the list goes on!

And on top of researching, selecting and choosing you may be wondering if you’re even set everything up correctly.

If you want to grow a thriving law practice, you need to know how to implement proper security measures – the ‘security insurance’ – to ensure you don’t experience a data breach and risk running your reputation.

Because here’s the truth…

✨ you can’t change lives if you can’t even get the people you want to serve to trust you with their sensitive information in the first place ✨

But proper security measures can not only protect you, but can set you apart from your peers and be leveraged to build trust amongst your potential clients and that’s exactly what I want to help you with today.

My friend Tom Lambotte is hosting a free class on Thursday, December 17th, 2020 at 11am PST / 2pm EST called:

💥 The 7 Cybersecurity Threats That Could Endanger
Your Law Firm In 2021…And How To Prevent Them 💥

You can click HERE to register.

Tom has built the top boutique IT company (GlobalMac IT) in the legal space, with clients including Cooper, Adel, Vu & Associates LPA, The Stevens Firm, PA, Eltringham Law Group, Bick Law LLP, the Law Office of Kenneth E. Berger, LLC and many more throughout the United States and across all practice areas!

He’s going to share real-life examples of the biggest areas where lawyers go wrong with their security measures, and what to do to properly protect your practice and put solutions into place while making sure it doesn’t require hours upon hours of time taking your FOCUS away from your most important work.

Join him at the free Security Class on December 17th, 2020, where, after attending, you’ll know:

⭐ What are 2021’s Seven top cybersecurity threats you (solo and small law firms) are most vulnerable to?

⭐ Why are you a “sitting duck” for losing EVERYTHING in your bank account in an instant? (and why your bank is NOT responsible for getting your money back)

⭐ How these SIMPLE protections and precautions can drastically reduce your chances of being a victim?

⭐ What are the best-in-class security protocols to protect your law firm from a data breach?

⭐ Why you must abandon the false belief ‘that can never happen to me.’

Click HERE to register (spots are limited).

9 Mistakes to Avoid in Your Law Firm with Apple Computer Maintenance in 2019

Posted on April 16, 2019 by Ben Stevens Posted in Office Management, Online Resources, Technology Leave a comment

Let’s face it, attorneys should spend their time practicing law, not playing part-time IT support and trying to manage their computers. Updates from Apple, third-party software updates, and general maintenance all require time – which could better be spent representing clients and generating income.

Smart attorneys recognize this and outsource their IT needs to enable themselves to simultaneously increase their productivity while reducing their security risks. Really smart attorneys choose GlobalMac IT (my law firm’s preferred provider for many years), no matter whether they are solo practitioners or members of a large firm.

Because knowing what NOT to do is almost as important as knowing what TO do, Global Mac IT has prepared a free report, 9 Mistakes to Avoid in Your Law Firm with Apple Maintenance in 2019, which discusses ways to reduce your IT fees by reducing tech issues and downtime by implementing simple approaches you never learned.

You can learn more and obtain a copy of your free report by clicking HERE.

Free Webinar: How to Avoid Growing Pains in Your Mac-Based Law Firm With Proven Processes

Posted on April 25, 2018 by Ben Stevens Posted in Office Management, Online Resources, Technology Leave a comment

My friend and business colleague Tom Lambotte, CEO of GlobalMac IT has recently developed a true breakthrough in managing Apple technology for growing law firms to help them increase efficiency and allow them to scale their firms fearlessly.

If your law firm is using Macs and you’ve ever wished there was a better way to manage them, this is something you most definitely need to know about. As the co-author of Macs in Law: The Definitive Guide for the Mac-Curious, Windows-Using Attorney, Tom knows what he’s talking about.

Tom is going to introduce this revolutionary new process in a free webinar for Managing Partners and Office Managers on Thursday, April 26^th at 1pm EST (10am PST). This free webinar is sponsored by Rocket Matter, and you can get the full details (and save your spot) by clicking here.

Your Options for Running a Mac-Based Law Firm: Managed Services

Posted on February 13, 2017 by Ben Stevens Posted in Guest Posts, Mac vs. PC, Office Management, Security, Software, Technology Leave a comment

The following Guest Post is from technology guru, Tom Lambotte from GlobalMac IT:

Managed Services is the opposite of the reactive, hourly model. The biggest benefit is being able to budget IT costs and shifting the support approach from reactive to proactive. The majority of Managed Service offerings are offered in a tiered model, such as Bronze, Silver or Gold. Bronze, for example, provides only phone support, with Silver providing slightly more, etc.

My company ceased providing hourly support when I realized the business model I built the company on (hourly support) was a break/fix model with many flaws. I would set up my clients or resolve their issues and then say, “call me when you need me.” I prided myself on my ability to resolve issues promptly and enjoyed working with my clients. However, there was always a subconscious voice in my head telling me I could prevent many of the reactive issues coming I dealt with. There had to be a better way. When I discovered the Managed Services model, I embraced it fully and we haven’t looked back.

Law firms using Managed Services benefit from fewer problems, less downtime and far less unexpected issues. This pro-active approach takes the role of managing IT out of the firm and puts it into the hands of experts. At least that is the promise of Managed Service providers. Like any business, whether they deliver is another story. You must do your due diligence in choosing an IT company. (Access our whitepaper “What Every Attorney Must Know About Hiring An Honest, Competent, Responsive And Fairly Priced Apple Consultant” at www.globalmacit.com/legalreport)

Managed Services provide a dramatic improvement over the options of DIY and hourly support. However, as our experience grew working with Managed Services, we saw some shortcomings with the tiered model of Managed Services. These insights led to the evolution of our current services. The tiered model means some things are included and others are not. Items such as Project work, training, after hours or emergency support, setting up new staff members, office moves, on-site support, for example, are rarely included, and therefore billed hourly. I found this tiered model often made clients feel they were being nickel and dimed. The overall impact of this model ends up hurting your firm in several ways.

First, one of the big benefits of Managed Services is being able to budget your IT costs. But if project work is not included, how can you budget accurately? The biggest problem this leads to is the delay of important projects that would be beneficial to the firm. Because the cost is not in the budget, projects that are important but not urgent are often pushed off and delayed. This impacts the firm’s profits, assuming the new solution would have addressed a bottleneck in the firm or boosted productivity in some way. For example, we have seen many firms fail when trying to roll out technical solutions on their own. The data is often neither migrated not configured properly, and they don’t provide proper training. Ultimately, the staff does not buy into the solution and it fails after the firm spent a LOT of money trying to get it off the ground.

Not knowing the level of support will cover an issue may deter your staff from calling the IT company, because they don’t want to rack up additional bills for the firm. This leads to small issues developing into bigger issues.

A word of caution: Windows-based Managed Services Companies.

Managed Services in the Apple world is a fairly new model, with less than 100 all-Mac Managed Service Providers in the nation. This means many Mac-based law firms looking for a proactive support option often only come across Windows-based Managed Service Providers who claim they can support Macs.

The number ONE issue with most Windows-centric Managed Service Providers supporting Macs is that it is financially impossible for a Windows-shop to provide the same level of support to Macs as they do to PCs. They cannot justify spending the same amount of resources on training, tools and support for the 5-10% of their computers that are Macs. Because of this you will not receive the same caliber of support provided to their PC users. In the majority of cases, when they say they can support Macs, they have one person who’s the “Mac expert.” When that person is out of the office, Mac-using clients are out of luck.

Simply becoming Apple Certified does NOT make one an expert. It is a step in the right direction, however, there is still a long way to becoming proficient at supporting Macs. I have heard many stories where the client ended up knowing more about Macs than the support person they are speaking with! Talk about a horrible experience. If you are an all-Mac law firm, you need to do extra diligence if you are considering hiring on a Windows-centric IT company to support your firm. Not everyone out there is negligent in this area, but sadly I can say from experience that the majority are not able to fully support Macs.

A Managed Services has some flaws, it is a huge step forward in becoming proactive in managing your technology. Next month’s article will discuss the 4^th and final option, the unique offering version of Managed Services of my company, GlobalMac IT and how it is specialized for Mac-Based Law Firms.

Provided as an educational service by Tom Lambotte, President of GlobalMac IT

GlobalMac IT was founded by Tom Lambotte – renowned nationwide as an author, speaker, trusted IT advisor, and cutting edge, successful provider of the #1 complete end-to-end IT solution for Mac-Based Law Firms in the world. Private firms from throughout North America – and as far reaching as American Samoa – running with a staff of 5-50 – have relied on his expertise to help them put their IT headaches behind once and for all.

Using his real world experience, where results rule and dollars can’t be wasted on negligent computer consultants, he wanted to help managing partners and office managers of Mac-based law firms to put an end to wasting their time and money on IT support that does not work and rescue them from the frustration.

Our unique “TotalCare” approach integrates classic IT support with proven proactive support that truly converts IT from something to be dealt with, into a tool that truly increases law firm profits, increases staff productivity, and provides piece of mind that firm and client data is secure and that their security is never at risk. You can reach GlobalMac IT at (440) 941-1622 to request more information.

Running a Mac-Based Law Firm: The Hourly Consultant Option

Posted on July 5, 2016 by Ben Stevens Posted in Guest Posts, Mac vs. PC, Office Management, Technology Leave a comment

In this Guest Post, my friend and technology guru Tom Lambotte from GlobalMac IT discusses the second most common option for IT support when Running a Mac-Based Law Firm: an hourly consultant.

The smaller the firm, the more likely they are to use the DIY approach which we discussed in the first part of this series in last month’s newsletter. But, inevitably the DIYers run into something that’s beyond their scope, which is where the hourly IT consultant comes in. Based on my experience having worked as an hourly consultant for five years, approximately two-thirds of my clients operated with the DIY approach and only called when things were dire.

I’ll discuss the most common pitfalls and give strategies on how to get the most value when working with an hourly consultant.

Common pitfalls of using an hourly IT consultant:

The consultant has no incentive to fix other issues they discover. They often give an estimated time to address the problem they are called in to fix, so they do their best to stay within that estimate. Discovering issues while working on addressing the issue at hand can put the consultant in a difficult position. Do they address the issues as they come across them and go over their estimated time or just focus on completing the task at hand?
They bill hourly, so to maximize their income, they need to line up their day with appointments. Their primary focus is resolving the problem in the time they have allotted, whether that is the right amount of time or not. This time pressure can often lead to duct-tape fixes, leading to issues needing to be addressed more than once.
The overwhelming majority of Apple Consultants are one-person shops, meaning they are not always available when you need them. I remember the challenge this posed. If I was with a client and had an emergency with another client, I’d be in a pickle. If you’re the one in a pickle and your consultant is busy, you won’t know when they will be able to respond.
Very few consultants have chosen an area of expertise to develop. The overwhelming majority of Apple Consultants work with anyone with a Mac. This makes it unlikely that they will be familiar with the specific tools, techniques, structures, systems or new ways of thinking and problem solving specific to the legal industry. Their clientele has as much variety as a magazine rack at Target.
Their purpose is to fix the issue you asked them to fix. Not to find ways to boost productivity for your staff, streamline your processes, look for security risks in your setup, or implement solutions that will benefit the firm.

There’s a strong belief out there that: “I switched to Macs so I didn’t need IT support.” However, your system is more often than not riddled with bottlenecks and security holes and plagued by issues and productivity losses. Without fail, I would quickly create a list of issues that my clients had never been aware of. There is far more that falls under the IT umbrella than just installing updates. It is all the things You Don’t Know You Don’t Know that a specialist can help you address.

Best practices when using an hourly consultant

Make sure they are Certified. The IT industry is NOT regulated and hiring someone who is learning on your dime can be costly. Don’t hire someone from Craigslist or your friend’s son who really likes Macs. Search for a Certified Apple Consultant in your area. Then, just like you do on Amazon, read the reviews and do some research before picking one. You can also call your local Apple Store’s Business Team and ask for recommendations.
Test them out. It’s better to have a consultant and not need one than to need one and not have one. Don’t wait for an emergency to find a consultant to work with. Make a small list of things you’d like addressed or configured and use them for a couple hours. Make sure you work well together, that they are competent and that you’d feel comfortable hiring them again in the future. Trust your gut, if there’s doubt, try another.
Don’t wait for dire emergencies. Neil Tyra, attorney and producer of The Law Entrepreneur podcast asks solos if they would pay an IT person $250 an hour. If not, why would they take an hour of your time, as an attorney trying to troubleshoot an issue? Get in the habit of using your hourly consultant on a proactive basis and reduce the amount of time you spent dealing with IT. Start by making a list of your concerns, the things that keep you up at night. Then hire a consultant to implement solutions to address these concerns.
Plan regular visits and add to your budget. This will vary based on your size, but have them perform regular maintenance, monthly for most people, more often if you are larger and at a minimum, a quarterly visit. Build the cost into your budget.

To wrap up, I urge you to stop playing the IT person in your firm and focus on serving your clients and building your practice. If you are currently using an hourly consultant, move out of the two-thirds who only call in emergencies and move into the third that are proactive. And if you are going to work with an hourly consultant, here is your homework: Pick the top three strategies that struck a chord with you from the “what NOT to do” or from the Best Practices section. Then outline three actions you will take to shift the approach towards IT from reactive to proactive.

In next month’s article, we’ll discuss Managed Services, which takes being proactive to a whole other level.

Provided as an educational service by Tom Lambotte, President of GlobalMac IT

Rocket Matter Launches Numerous New Features

Posted on June 6, 2016 by Ben Stevens Posted in Office Management, Online Resources, Product Reviews, Software Leave a comment

As my readers know, my firm has used Rocket Matter since its launch in early 2008, and we absolutely love it. 2016 has already been a busy year for them, as they introduced QuickBooks Online integration and Rocket Matter Payments in February, followed in March byMatter Templates and Rocket Matter Atlas, a complete, modern redesign of the its user interface.

Never ones to rest on their laurels, Rocket Matter released their Atlas 1.1 update a few days ago, which includes numerous new additions to help make law firms be even more productive and increase their revenue. These new features include new tax functionality, multiple timers, an improved onboarding experience with gamification, and customizable dashboards.

Larry Port, Rocket Matter’s CEO and founder says:

“Let’s be honest: Taxes are not enjoyable to talk about in any way, and they’re even less fun to tally up on an invoice. Rocket Matter now takes care of this task for you. We rolled out some exciting stuff, too – a compelling gaming system for our new customers that makes learning Rocket Matter entertaining, along with some cool new features our customers have been asking us to add.”

Because my firm is on a pre-release program, we have been using many of these features for several weeks, and I can easily say that my favorite is the customizable dashboards and calendars, which now allow users to customize their personal Dashboards to be either “task-centric” or “calendar centric.” Everyone works in different ways, so this additional flexibility allows users to choose the one most helpful to them. In our office, the attorneys lean toward the “calendar centric” view, while our support staff prefer the “task-centric” view.

One of the other great new features is the ability to view the firm-wide calendar in either of two view settings. Users who prefer to view their calendar in one clear, elegant-looking size, “fit events to view” provides a “more” link if the number of events on any given day exceeds the available space. On the other hand, “show all events” will stretch the size of the page to show all events on each day without having to click on the “more” link. I prefer the latter, but I can see why some would rather have the option for the same size “box” for each day.

People who tend to work on multiple tasks at once will love the new multiple timers feature (shown at right). This allows Rocket Matter users to run a timer, pause it when they get interrupted, start another one for a different matter, and then come back to the original timer later. Billable time gets tracked on each timer and, in turn, seamlessly appears on an invoice. For those with many things going on at one time, this can be a life saver (and help capture time that might otherwise be lost and thus unbillable.

If you haven’t already checked out Rocket Matter Atlas, you can view this informative overview video. We are extremely choosy with regard to which program we entrust our calendaring, task management, contacts, and time and billing (among other important function), and the fact that we have been with Rocket Matter for almost 8.5 years is a testament to the strength of their product. In the decade before we started using it, we easily went through 7 or 8 other products trying to find the “right” solution. For us, that’s Rocket Matter, and we applaud their never-ending desire to constantly improve their product in an effort to make the work lives of their users more efficient and more profitable.

The Mac Lawyer Interviewed on The Law Entrepreneur

Posted on April 25, 2016 by Ben Stevens Posted in Did You Know?, Office Management, This Blog Leave a comment

My readers probably know a good bit about the “tech side” of my life, but they might not know much about my “real job”. I am the Senior Partner in a boutique law firm in Spartanburg, SC that exclusively handles family law cases. My practice areas include high asset divorces, contested child custody cases, and other complex family law issues. As I like to describe it, I solve puzzles for a living.

If you’re curious how I ended up doing this and what led me to this point in my career, you may want to listen to Neil Tyra’s interview with me. As you may recall, I blogged a few weeks ago about Neil’s podcast, The Law Entrepreneur with Neil Tyra, and he was kind enough to have me as the featured guest on this week’s episode, Ben Stevens – The Evolution Of A Southern Family Law Attorney (Episode # 13).

I enjoyed being a guest on his podcast, and Neil does a great job interviewing his guests while making them feel comfortable during the process. This podcast has become one of my favorites, and I hope that you’ll consider checking it out and subscribing to it. Many thanks to Neil for having me on, and I look forward to talking with him more in the future. To find out more about The Law Entrepreneur click here, or to subscribe via iTunes click here.

Podcast Recommendation: The Law Entrepreneur with Neil Tyra

Posted on April 4, 2016 by Ben Stevens Posted in Office Management, Online Resources, Podcasts Leave a comment

Time is the one thing that I (like most busy attorneys) simply don’t have enough of. I enjoy learning, and podcasts are a great way to do so. Even though I enjoy them, but I am very discerning in selecting the ones that make the cut and find their way onto my playlist (in Overcast, which, by the way, is awesome).

I wanted to write this post to highlight a new addition to the few selected podcasts I follow – The Law Entrepreneur with Neil Tyra. Neil is an attorney who owns his own firm and has been practicing in Maryland (just outside of DC) since 2004. The stated goal of his podcast is to address “what they didn’t teach us about running a business in law school” – because that’s one of the areas that most law schools fall woefully short.

Neil’s podcast covers topics that help his listeners understand the many complexities of owning your own law firm, especially solos and those in small firms. Let’s face it, being an entrepreneur is not easy; being a successful attorney is not easy; and combing the two is not for the faint of heart. One thing Neil does that I love is he offers transparency by discussing some of the mistakes he made in his own firm along the way – which I think is wonderful and wish more people were willing to do.

Even though I graduated with honors with an undergraduate degree in financial management with a minor in accounting, I freely acknowledge that there were so many things that I didn’t know about running a firm when I left my old firm to open my own one in 1996. As with most things in life, I learned many things “the hard way”, but those missteps were very educational to me. In fact, that is one of the reasons that I teach so many CLE classes, because I enjoy sharing what I’ve learned with others.

The Law Entrepreneur podcast features interviews with successful attorneys (both solos and those from small firms), along with other bright and successful entrepreneurs who aren’t necessarily in the practice of law, to educate his listeners about creating, running, and managing a successful business in the internet era. Each episode is around 30 minutes, which is ideal for most people because they can listen to it while commuting to/from work (which I do during my 10-15 minute drive).

One of Neil’s best episodes to date is the one with my buddy, Victor Medina from New Jersey, who discusses how he successfully transitioned his law practice from educational law into estate planning & elder law, while managing to grow his practice and branch out into financial services along the way. Big changes executed masterfully over a short period of time with great results – what more could you want?

Neil and Victor’s discussion was fascinating, and you can access it here if you want a preview (which you can access ). To find out more about The Law Entrepreneur click here, or to subscribe via iTunes click here. I am confident that you will be glad you did – and Neil, keep up the great work!

Rocket Matter Introduces QuickBooks Online Integration and Slick New Payments

Posted on February 2, 2016 by Ben Stevens Posted in Office Management, Online Resources, Product Reviews, Technology 1 Comment

Today the fine folks at Rocket Matter rolled out an integration with QuickBooks Online, making the best online legal time and billing software even better (click here to watch a short video). In addition, they announced Rocket Matter Payments, which the painful task of invoicing and collecting easier than ever.

Rocket Matter QuickBooks Online Integration:

QuickBooks desktop is one of those things that forces a Mac law firm to keep a copy of Windows running. The Mac version of QuickBooks just isn’t that great, so most of our tribe is stuck running Parallels or VMWare or *gasp* has a server running Windows on it somewhere (which is probably the only machine in the firm that gets viruses).

The online version of QuickBooks seems to be where Intuit is placing more and more of its emphasis. They are starting to drop developer support for some of their desktop API access and are encouraging more adoption of the cloud-based product. It’s enough to make one wonder if Intuit will one day sunset the desktop product completely.

Rocket Matter’s QuickBooks Online integration, according to their announcement, “continues in the company’s tradition of easy-to-use, visually appealing software. Rocket Matter users will be able to tie together detailed information between the two systems, including invoices, expenses, trust account credits and debits, as well as sync all current clients with Rocket Matter.”

The other Rocket Matter announcement that will affect small law firm business is the introduction of Rocket Matter Payments. Basically, this feature allows you to email your client invoices with a secure payment link. You’re then able to tell if your clients opened the email or not. When a client pays, your Rocket Matter ledgers are updated automatically, which then can be seamlessly integrated with – you guess it – QuickBooks Online.

Watch an overview of Rocket Matter Payments: